Editorial Column - Times of India dated  07/03/2012

Elephant Trampled

UP’s stunning electoral verdict sends a message to the political class

    This is as decisive as it can get. The pundits had gone to town predicting a hung assembly for UP, with dark mutterings from certain quarters about the necessity of President’s rule. Instead, in a verdict that will reverberate nationally, the state’s supposedly fragmented electorate has powered the Samajwadi Party (SP) into staging a stunning upset, pulling the plug on the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Just like the BSP last time the SP now is in a position to form a government on its own, without depending on coalition allies.
    UP’s decisive electoral shift underlines sweeping disaffection against the Mayawati government, as well as the SP’s capacity to leverage this. Squeezed out by regional players, the two national parties, the Congress and the BJP, have both taken sharp knocks. In particular, the verdict ought to set alarm bells ringing in Congress party headquarters. Not only did it finish fourth in UP despite tying up with the RLD, not to mention Rahul Gandhi’s high-voltage campaign, it has fared poorly in other states with the sole exception of Manipur. The Congress needs to wake up and smell the anti-incumbency that’s rising nationally against the UPA government, fuelled by rising prices, poor economic management and corruption.
    The BSP’s multiple governance failures too have come home to roost. Extravagant and showy political symbolism cannot take the place of responsive governance that stresses development and people’s livelihoods – including of dalits, Mayawati’s primary constituency. Mayawati’s aloof mode of governance that centralised sweeping powers in the chief minister’s office, her interference in transfers and appointments of bureaucrats, or the crippling failure to deliver basic services like health – none of these have helped matters. The UP verdict confirms a recent healthy trend, seen in voting patterns across India. If politicians don’t perform, the electorate is watching and will punish them at the hustings.
    Mayawati’s losses have transformed into SP’s unprecedented gains. But the man stealing the poll show is Akhilesh Yadav, the architect of the SP’s image makeover. The 39-year-old SP leader had successfully used modern communication strategies, as well as grassroots organisational network, to reach out to voters. He has also worked to distance the party from toughs and corrupt leaders who had sullied its image during its last tenure in power. This time Mulayam and Akhilesh can’t afford to squander their huge mandate. They need to deliver on the SP’s image makeover by providing the clean, efficient, responsive and modern governance that the electorate yearns for.